Thursday, October 4, 2007

Never give in!

Life is too short! I've begun a learning process that will never end! Never give in! Sorry, I started playing the music from the 7Rivers Expedition Middle Kings segment in my head, which I do every time I see the granite needles from that time lapse shot with the clouds whipping through. They were a welcome sight indeed coming up over Bishop Pass at 11,700 ft. with a kayak on my back loaded with lots of gear and not enough food. I am here to say that the hike in to the Middle Kings makes the Upper Cherry hike-in seem like a pleasant jaunt, one you might take on a lazy afternoon with a picnic basket. But it keeps the riff-raff out, is totally worth it, and rounds out the epicness of the overall experience. Oh yeah, and the shuttle is kind of long too. That said, the Middle Kings is the most amazing river I have run in my life. The fact that it is one of the last High Sierra runs to go meant that I felt very on it with my paddling and the multi-day aspect. The fact that an ordinary run takes five days meant that our group had time to come together as a crew. The fact that you are about as remote as you can get in a state of 50 million people meant that every view was stunning. I also had the good timing to celebrate my birthday paddling out through Kings Canyon of the Main Kings on day 5, with the notorious bottom nine miles behind us and a safe descent under our belts. Photos by Kevin Smith. Yellow boat, Jared Johnson, blue boat Taylor Cavin, green boat, Greg Spiecher. Never give in! Palisade Creek slideThis slide goes directly into......this drop! (see the trail of whitewater leading into it?)Mad ups to Jared for making this look good and inspiring me to run it. Jared runs the Beaver! (I believe only been run 4 times so far...)Roger's Creek cascades into the Kings near where we camped with much trepidation for the following day and the bottom nine miles.Goodbye Tehipete! See you next year.